Scientists find a protein that can
kill E.coli
Scientists at a British university have chanced up a protein
that can kill the E. coli bacterium, known to cause serious food poisoning in
humans. The protein Colicin N is found inside the Escherichia coli itself, and
kills competing bacterium in a very efficient way.
As part of their investigations, researchers at Newcastle
University divided the protein into three parts: a receptor, which helps the
protein lock-on to the bacterium; a toxic part that punches holes in the
membrane of the bacterium to kill it; and a ‘tail-like’ part. The ‘tail’
was thought to help the protein sneak into the cell but assumed to be harmless
to the bacterium itself.
According to the researchers, they wanted to see what effect
each part of the protein would have on E.coli bacteria. Amazingly when they
introduced the translocation tail into the environment of the bacteria, it
killed them.
Chris Johnson, a researcher who made the key discovery,
said: ‘When I saw what had happened I didn’t believe it. So we repeated it
several times and the same thing happened, the bacteria died. This was
certainly a result that we weren’t expecting. We don’t really know how this is
all working so we will be looking at this in much more detail but it looks
promising.’
The research team at Newcastle described their findings in a
paper published in the journal Molecular Microbiology this week. Professor of
structural biochemistry at Newcastle University’s Centre for Bacterial Cell
Biology, Jeremy Lakey, who led the research team, said: ‘It will be relatively
easy to make new antibiotics out of it.’
He, however, added that the research was still in its early
stages. ‘It’s an early stage basic discovery. It kills bacteria by a new and as
yet unknown mechanism, so we need to do a lot more work to discover exactly
what is happening here and whether it could be used for new drugs. But it is
unlike anything I have seen before and one of the most exciting things I have
seen in 30 years of research on antibacterials,’ he said.
The finding means a whole new class of antibiotics to help
fight Escherichia coli. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives across the
world, but recently several experts have warned that over use has resulted into
the bacteria developing immunity and the drugs becoming ineffective. The
discovery shows promise in combating an increasingly important class of
antibiotic resistant infections caused by E. coli.
08.07.2013
Now a software to distinguish
between dengue, malaria and other viral fevers!
Indian doctors in collaboration with a Russian lab have
developed software to differentiate dengue, malaria and other viral fevers,
otherwise a challenging task due to their similar symptoms, an official said
Friday.
The software, developed by a team of doctors from Sir Ganga
Ram Hospital (SGRH) and Lab Tech Ltd in St Petersburg, is expected to aid in
faster detection, reduction in cost of treatment and minimisation of antibiotic
resistance as only fever-specific antibiotics need to be given to patients.
‘Doctors face challenges in distinguishing malaria and
dengue as both present similar symptoms like high fever, loss of appetite and
chill,’ said Manorama Bhargava, chairperson, department of hematology, Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi.
Bhargava, who led the team of doctors, said dengue, malaria
and other viral infections peak in northern India around the monsoon and post
monsoon seasons.
‘This leads to recommendation of battery of diagnostic tests
and start of antibiotics for all three groups till a specific diagnosis is
made, leading to escalation in treatment costs and use of unnecessary
antibiotics,’ she said.
A research paper in this regard has been published in June
15 edition of International Journal of Laboratory Hematology – the Official
journal of the International Society for Laboratory Hematology.
The research is based on a study carried out after analysing
324 samples of patients suffering from dengue, malaria as well as other illness
that mimic the two.
08.07.2013
There
are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind
C.S.Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment